Before Dawn
by Obscured Tempest
Summary: Permanent hiatus/revamp After losing a bet, Zero succumbs to an end of a rather questionable nature. Time for, ah... a rather interesting repetition of events! Boylove and some girllove rating temporary and primarily for language, at this point.
1. The Loss

Okay, so, first submission to despite being reg'd on here for… I don't know how long. xD; ANYHOW! This contains le slash. M/M. And actually a tiny hint of F/F. And I currently do not know if I'm putting Palette and Axl together. Probably not, though. xD;; Anyhow, x2. Please, please be gentle with this. xD I accept critique.

Flames will be used to chase Axl.

Typical disclaimer applies—None of these characters, unless otherwise stated, belong to me.

---

_Part 1: The Loss_

"I have to do WHAT?" the blonde exclaimed, staring at the four. "You have got to be kidding." With a huff, he folded his arms across his broad chest, frowning.

Area chuckled as Palette and Axl grinned.

"You lost the bet, Zero," Palette teased. "You have to! That was part of the deal." She smirked broadly, glancing back, for a split second, to Layer who merely flushed and looked uncomfortable. Area took the taller Navigator's hand in hers and smiled reassuringly.

"It's for a month," she explained to Zero. "Every morning, before the sun rises."

"If you're caught," Axl continued, "…well, we'll think of something by then!" He leaned on Palette, flashing Zero a thumbs up. "But you're a ninja. You should get out of it scott-free."

"…That's not what I'd call getting out of anything scott-free," Zero deadpanned. "And what the hell gave you lot the idea for THAT, anyway?"

Area, Palette, and Axl exchanged looks. Layer shuffled closer to the girl beside her. They shared a little laugh before facing Zero with smiles (except for Layer, who still fidgeted and avoided his gaze).

"…I don't get you guys," the red Hunter finally sighed. "Whatever. I'll do it."

"Remember the rules," Palette sang.

"Yeah, yeah…. And I hope you all get used to waking up –early-." And with that, Zero departed.

---

"Seriously, I don't get those guys…" Zero frowned at his reflection, pulling the white t-shirt over his head. He muttered some more before yanking on his jeans, ignoring the knocks at his door.

Wait, knocks?

Fastening the button on his jeans, the blonde scratched his head as he made his way to the door.

"Yeah, yeah; I'm coming…" Inputting the brief code, the door hissed unlocked and slid open. "X." Oh, great. This was going to be awkward, now, wasn't it? Zero did his best to maintain normalcy. "Hey, what's up?"

The brunette caught the slight off-ness to his friend's manner, but shrugged it off. It probably wasn't anything major.

"Nothing in particular," the smaller Hunter replied with a faint smile.

Zero froze.

"You aren't here to badger me in to doing paperwork, are you?" Zero hazarded. He was surprised when X laughed. Canting his head, Zero fixed X with a very confused look. "Buh?"

"No, if I were here to do that, I'd be dragging you by your hair to your desk and hovering until you got it done." X's little tongue stuck out of his mouth before he laughed again. Zero's expression was priceless. It had gone from being utterly confused to being horrified. "We haven't had any paperwork to do for a while, either."

"Do not drag me anywhere by my hair!" Zero declared in terror, completely ignoring the latter half of X's remark.

"Then don't give me reason to."

"…It's been a while since we could just chat like this, hasn't it?" Zero suddenly piped.

X fell silent, a contemplative look on his face.

"Yes… It's been a few months." Their duties had them constantly on the job, taking care of Irregular outbreaks when Sigma wasn't on the attack and when he was… that was a whole new story. Well, an old one that was recited on repeat. X closed his eyes as he smiled again. "It's nice."

"Definitely," Zero sighed, leaning against the doorframe. He suddenly straightened and grinned. "Well, are you going to stand out there all day or are you going to come in?"

X, startled, jumped a tiny bit. Zero held back a snicker.

"Oh; yeah." X rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, yelping when Zero grabbed him and mussed up his hair, pulling him into the room simultaneously. X flailed, struggling to get away, but Zero prevailed. As he cackled in victory, X complained and attempted to restore his hair to a somewhat decent level.

This was no time to worry about a stupid bet. In fact, Zero had forgotten all about it. They had sat around, chatting idly about everything and nothing, gone out for lunch, hung around town and caused the general havoc friends did together. After dinner, the pair wandered around and continued their idle chatter, hiding (from time to time) from Zero's overly adoring stalkers—er, fans. Yes, he'd long since forgotten the bet… until time passed and his best friend bid him farewell for the day before heading off to bed.

That's when it hit him. Hard.

"Ah, shit…"


	2. The Conditions

_Part 2: The Conditions_

Zero paced, hands behind his back, then crossing his arms, then running his hands through his hair.

Did he seriously have to do this? It was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever been told to do (and that was a long list), and worst of all, he had to do it to someone else! This did not bode well on his conscience or with his pride.

The blonde hadn't slept well last night, having thought of what he had to do in the next few minutes. He debated how to go about it—the best way would be to teleport in, get it done, teleport back to his room, and walk to the rendezvous point with one of the girls or Axl. It looked the least suspicious and got it done quickly.

He tugged on his hair in a short moment of frustration and surrendered to fate.

"...I will die if I'm caught," he muttered, getting the coordinates in his head before being enveloped in a red light.

---

X was still in bed, sound asleep. Sleep had come easily when he had taken to it, exhausted from the day's activities. He wore an expression of serenity, at peace in his sleep. Perhaps he dreamt; dreamt of a time of peace and joy, much like the days of late. There were few outbreaks, now, and perhaps such optimism flowed into his dreams. Not even the barest hints of light touched the horizon to disturb the ancient Hunter's rest or his dreams.

A red beam deposited the fretting Zero, who tugged at the collar of his shirt. He was the very opposite of X, now. He silenced his steps, moving carefully until he stood beside the white cot, gazing down at the shorter male. His best friend. Inwardly, he offered curses to the four who had banded together and forced him into this situation.

_That isn't entirely true, _he thought._ I lost the bet, which I took of my own free will. …So this is my fault. That doesn't make me feel any better._

Swallowing his pride, the blonde crouched beside the cot, staring X right in the face. Careful not to disturb the sleeping form, he leaned in and placed a single, quick kiss on his lips.

Immediately, if not sooner, Zero stood and returned to his room via that same red light. He threw himself on his bed, raging with his pillow over his face. After significantly calming down (and losing whatever energy he'd gathered from his meager sleep), he rose and prepared to face whoever it was he had to report to.

The walk to the commons gave him time to think, though. So long as X didn't wake up, it'd be fine, right? He'd never know. It wasn't so difficult when he thought about it. The brunette was a pretty sound sleeper, too, so not waking him up wouldn't be difficult. The guy could sleep through most anything, save an alarm or Palette shrieking at him.

_Then again, anyone would wake up to that. _Zero chuckled at the thought until he found himself face to face with that very Navigator.

"So, you really went through with it?" she asked with a grin.

"…Yeah." Zero's humour suddenly faded when he thought back to what it was that had transpired. "I don't see why you guys decided on making me do that, though…" He scratched his cheek, frowning in confusion and curiosity.

"I'm not the one who's going to tell you that," Palette answered with a giggle.

"…Okay…" What the hell? "So who is?"

"I'm not telling!" the blonde girl laughed in a sing-song manner, wagging a finger at him.

"…right…" So there was more to it than completely humiliating him in what would be a humourous way were it someone else and not him. "Whatever. May I continue with my life, now?"

"Yup! The conditions for the first day have been met!"

"Good."


	3. The Trial

Oh, wow. It's been FOREVER since I updated this. I haven't forgotten about it! D: I just... had to find the muses and kick them in the shins. Anyhow! Third chapter is here And hopefully, I can get the fourth one done much more quickly. XD! Enjoy.

The boys and girls are still (c) Capcom

-----

_Part Three: The Trial_

Zero yawned, thoroughly intent on going back to his room and getting more sleep. It was half past six in the morning, after all. 0630. Usually, he'd still be asleep at this hour with X hovering over him with a book or something about ready to whap him upside the he—oh shit. He inwardly winced as he realized, hey, he forgot half the morning routine. With haste, he made a mad dash for his room, hoping against hope that X hadn't woken up quite yet.

Like that'd happen. The smaller commander was up at 0600 every morning and had developed the habit of letting Zero sleep a bit longer before walking in and rousing him for the day. Their friendship was both a professional and a personal one, after all. And X had evidently decided that waking Zero up first thing in the morning was an amusing way to start the day.

Luck was with the blond for, just as he set a hand on the cot to steady himself after the run from the lounge, he heard the gentle tapping of fingers against the keypad and a startled "huh?" from the person beyond the door. Zero collapsed on to the cot, yanking the covers over his head and pulling his pillow over his face. Hopefully, he could keep this going for a while.

---

After another moment of frustrated silence, the door slid open to reveal a rather confused X. He held a book in one hand as he walked through the doorway. Zero hadn't locked his door, apparently, so when he'd input the code to unlock it, it had done the contrary. This had quite seriously confused the dark haired boy, since his friend had made it a rule to lock the door. To avoid unnecessary conflict with fan girls, Zero had explained. With a shrug and a dismissal, X proceeded inside where he found said blond with the covers up to his shoulders and a pillow over his face.

"Prepared?" the boy inquired, amused. His friend was most certainly strange…

He received a muffled reply.

X arched a brow, shifting his weight to one side as he readied the paperback novel.

"Try that again, Z?"

The pillow got yanked away from his face and a pair of blue eyes glared sleepily up at X from behind a curtain of messy blond strands and a shoulder.

"I said I'm already up."

"…Who are you and what have you done with Zero the Lazy?" X deadpanned. Zero burst out laughing, snatched back his pillow, and threw it at the brunette who easily caught it.

"Very funny, kiddo." He blatantly ignored the fact that X was, in fact, older. That was the usual way things worked. Pushing himself up, all thoughts of the panic and the bet flooded his mind. _Time to play "Omit the truth"! _"Nah. Just couldn't sleep." _Which is true; I couldn't. You walked in before I could go back to it._

"Then why were your blankets up to your nose and your pillow all but smothering you?"

"I tried to sleep; it just didn't work." _Also true._

X arched a brow but decided not to press the issue. It wasn't a bad thing that Zero had woken up early, after all; just… very odd. He tossed the pillow back to the blond.

"Hm. Well, despite the current lack of attacks, we do have a meeting at 1400." The once-threatening book held in the 17th Commander's hands was now held in front of him, very non-threatening as it rested in front of him and near his hips.

"Oh, you're kidding…" Zero flopped back down on to the cot. "Why?"

"They're discussing evacuation routes, among other things."

"Base-related emergencies, I take it?" the blond muttered sleepily. He still wasn't quite fully awake, and it now made itself known the way his speech slurred just below noticeably. "At least it's a good reason…" He took note of the brow that arched at him (again) as X took a seat on the cot, far enough down and at just the right angle to almost look directly at the blond. "You know I hate meetings," he snorted, as if to explain the seemingly callous response.

"Yeah, yeah." The brunette chuckled a bit, looking down at his book which now sat in his lap.

"What?" Zero propped himself up on his elbows, canting his head at his friend, curious about the new stance he'd taken—staring at his book with his brows knit together. "Somethin' up?"

"Mm…" X seemed to pause, eyes narrowing slightly in pondering how to phrase what he wanted to say. He sighed after a moment, straightening from his faint slouch. "Nothing, really. Just thinking about something."

_Nothing? _Zero eyed him suspiciously. "You sure about that?" As X nodded, silent, he flopped back, arms splaying out to his sides, closing his eyes and his expression fully showing just how suspicious he was. "Sure?"

A book dropped on his face, taking advantage of his temporary blindness.

"Yes, I'm sure. Now get up."

"Hey! I'm awake, already!"

---

The day progressed as was to be expected—lazing about until the meeting at two, Axl occasionally, ninja-ly drifting off only to get jabbed in the side by a cheeky Zero, half the time, and X supplying additional ideas to the already presented ones. The basic gist of the meeting involved setting up practical escape routes in case of a base-related emergency, as Zero had surmised, earlier. There was one main plan and at least a dozen back ups—Signas and X agreed that caution wasn't in the least bit unnecessary. No one argued; why not have that many back ups?

As the trio walked out after the end of the meeting, Axl darted ahead, glancing back to the older pair.

"Hey, you guys wanna go do something?" he called back, folding his arms behind his head with a hopeful grin. It'd been a while since all three had done something other than work. He turned most of his attention to Zero, since he found that if he got the blond to agree, the shorter brunette wasn't too far behind. Which was great, in the youngest Hunter's opinion.

"Like what, kid?" Zero nudged his long-time partner as he noted him start to zone as they walked. X was always like that after meetings, though; always thinking back on what was discussed and trying to find if he could fix something better. Zero swore that one day he'd fry his processor doing that, but the shorter male never believed him. He hadn't, so far, after all.

"Well, we could always go to the arcade or somethin'…" Axl reached back to rub the back of his neck, brows furrowing and baring something of an unintentional pout as he tried to think of something else.

"Hopefully not anything too loud," X remarked, glancing up from where ever it was he'd zoned off to, even after being nudged.

"Loud? Loud like you and Zero were?" A sly grin hit Axl's face which in turn caused Zero to redden and X to merely look confused. "What?" His grin broadened at the irritated expression on the blond's face; he took a couple steps back as the other started forward, which continued in a pattern until Axl had turned and fled, being chased by Zero down the hall and out the front doors of the base.

X watched this in utter confusion, wondering just what had transpired; what, exactly, had just happened? Whatever it was, he wasn't privy to it, so there was no real point in trying to decipher it. While he and Zero might be best friends, there was an entirely different wavelength in regards to Axl. He sighed, deciding just to trail after them, if only to make sure they didn't get into any trouble.


End file.
